Rabevel, ou le mal des ardents, Volume 2 (of 3) : Le financier Rabevel

"Rabevel, ou le mal des ardents, Volume 2 (of 3): Le financier Rabevel" by Lucien Fabre is a novel published in 1923. This Prix Goncourt winner follows Rabevel, an ambitious young financier in Third Republic France between 1875 and 1919. Both calculating and passionate, he sacrifices his true love for a strategic marriage yet remains tormented by unfulfilled desire. Suffering from "le mal des ardents"—an exasperation of the desire to live and feel intensely—Rabevel conducts business like an adventurer, only to discover his professional life merely masks deeper dissatisfaction.